'Callous in the extreme': Judge slams driver who fled as biker burnt
A disqualified driver's decision to flee a crash scene without helping a young motorcyclist, who was on fire and died, has been slammed as "callous" by a judge.
Santino Bankal, 29, of Ballarat had pleaded guilty to failing to help Ashleigh Gason, 21, who died after his motorbike burst into flames as it collided with a car on the Nepean Highway at Brighton in July 2017.
Bankal instead walked around the car a few times before leaving on foot with his girlfriend, who had helped their dog out of the burning car.
"He had the opportunity to do what he should've done and he failed to do it," County Court Judge Susan Pullen told an ongoing pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday.
"He walked off. Callous in the extreme."
Mr Gason was remembered as a generous, hard-working and kind young man who was very close to his family.
His father Mark Gason said Ashleigh was his only child and "driving force", and they had lived together and spoken every day.
"Going to bed nightly we would say 'see you tomorrow' with the reply 'yes you will'," Mr Gason tearfully told the court. "I miss him so much it hurts. I am totally lost."
Other witnesses stopped to help Mr Gason as he was burning on the road but Bankal and his girlfriend walked away.
The pair hailed a taxi to their then Elwood home and Bankal was not questioned until the following day after his girlfriend called police.
At the time, Bankal was on a community corrections order for past crimes and was disqualified from driving. He had only ever held a learner's permit.
He had driven his girlfriend's unregistered Holden Commodore to Coles, Aldi and finally Dan Murphy's at Brighton to buy whisky earlier that night.
Bankal entered the highway from a service lane and was moving to the right as Mr Gason's motorbike slammed into the car, bursting into flames.
Crash investigators found Mr Gason's bike had been travelling at at least 112km/h in the 80km/h zone.
There was no suggestion Bankal was speeding.
An exasperated Judge Pullen said Bankal had many chances to hand the wheel over to his girlfriend that night.
"At Coles. Whoops! Don't have a licence. Over to you," the judge said, throwing her hands in the air.
"Aldi. Whoops! Don't have a licence ... It was blatant driving."
Bankal pleaded guilty to failing to render assistance after a crash, driving disqualified and driving an unregistered car.
AAP